Page 32 - Cyber Terrorism and Extremism as Threat to Critical Infrastructure Protection

SECTION I: EXTREMISM, RADICALIZATION AND CYBER THREATS AS AN IMPORTANT
SECURITY FACTORS FOR COUNTERING TERRORISM PROCESSES

in 2004), Yemen (Committee for Dialogue in 2002), Singapore (the Religious Rehabilitation
Group in 2003), and Indonesia (2003)” (Holmer and Shtuni, 2017, p 7). Developed countries
with problems around returning foreign fighters can learn lessons from these programmes.
What became clear in the developing programmes is that each one can and must be adjusted
to the foreign fighter, their surroundings and their experience, and adapted to the environment
they are returning to; this is crucial for any programme to be successful.

Programmes that help to deradicalize and reintegrate returning foreign fighters into society
are important for more reasons. It is essential not to let people returning from the Islamic
State be left to themselves, without making any effort to help them. When returning to their
countries, whether or not they are criminally prosecuted, they are returning to life circum-
stances similar to those they had before they left. If these life circumstances were enough to
make them leave and join the Islamic State once, it is evident that the return will not be easy.
In most cases they are returning into the same environments, but mentally the people are not
the same. They have been in battles, and have experienced exceptionally unpleasant things,
many of them life-threatening. Many may say that FFs chose to join the Islamic State and that
they do not deserve help, but countries must take on responsibility for their citizens and try
to make their return easier. This is for many reasons, one of which is not to let this situation
happen again. We must bear in mind that the reasons for them leaving can occur again; some-
thing could trigger them, and then the first thing to cross their minds could be to leave, to pack
their bags and their families and join another terrorist organization. If they begin to feel as if
they do not belong in their community, or feel judged and separate from society, they cannot
integrated into society.

These thoughts are based on experience where this is exactly what happened. “When the Af-
ghanistan war ended, hundreds of Arab mujahidin fighters were blocked from returning home.
This is why they decided to continue the fight, wherever and whenever they saw the opportu-
nity to do so” (Debuef, 2019, e-source). The contrast between the sense of purpose, power, and
feeling part of a community which was granted by being a member of a strong organization
such as the Islamic State, and then returning to a society that possibly judges and discredits
them, with a government that is not helpful, is a sure recipe for failure and for making people
think that their lives as a member of the Islamic State made much more sense. So, rehabilita-
tion, deradicalization, and reintegration of foreign fighters must be approached responsibly
and, above all, with a plan. Currently, states are trying to find the best strategies towards the
deradicalization and reintegration of returning foreign fighters. At this moment, one of the non-
binding recommendations giving advice on how to deal with this is the “Malta Principles for
Reintegrating Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters”, written by the Hedayah centre, which has
published a programme scheme and principles for reintegrating foreign fighters.

3 Return of Foreign Fighters and Countries of Europe

The European Union came together on joint values such as human dignity, freedom, equal-
ity, and solidarity; democracy and the “rule of law” are two more. Any action that is not in
harmony with these values is in direct dispute with EU law. Terrorist activity is one of the
acts that violates the values on which the EU is based; this is why one of the most prominent
threats to the EU is terrorism. In the EU it is very important to have a common position of
every Member State towards certain questions; one of these is foreign and security policy. The

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